Request For Proposals: Arts Research | Deadline: September 10, 2025

The Arts Research programme, re-launched in 2025, recognises the value of different and flexible approaches to research in the arts. Under this programme, we implement projects that explore forms of knowing and thinking that are rooted in creative, scholarly and/ or cultural practice, and bring out diverse perspectives on histories and expressions of artistic practice in India to foster a deeper understanding of the arts through enquiry, interaction, reflection, and experimentation.

In these projects, arts research could be understood as:

  • A form of practice where novel ways of doing, defining, and disseminating research in the arts could be developed. We encourage studies that foster experimentation, take research beyond documentation, challenge who can research the arts, what becomes significant to be researched, and how.
  • A reimagining of methods and breaking new conceptual grounds via unique ways of knowing and thinking through the body, technology, personal narratives, memories, experiences, relationships, and imagination.
  • A direct enquiry into one’s creative/ artistic/ cultural practice. We are keen to explore processes of research that are self-reflexive, and where individuals engage with their own or others’ practices in a critical, curious, and forward-looking manner.
  • A questioning of existing narratives and forms of representations offering diverse perspectives that re-examine histories, cultural heritage, and expressions of artistic practices in India. The research can be viewed in terms of community engagement, revisiting the history of art and allied fields, and exploring what the artistic processes of the future might look like.
  • A means for the articulation of marginalised voices that could lead to building new languages, vocabularies, and the creation of homegrown resources. This could even include reassessing what constitutes the ‘marginal’ or ‘dominant.’ 
  • An act of dialogue. We would like to implement projects encouraging meaningful exchange between disciplines and art forms (for example, art and science, art and philosophy, art and digital media, theory and practice). We are eager to engage with those seeking new forms of collaboration and cooperation between the artistic and research processes, theory, culture, bodies, and technologies.
  • An act of translation that feeds into research. We encourage proposals from individuals who wish to explore the discourse around the practice of translation, experiment with multilingual approaches, and/ or study the cultural value of translation.

Applications outside these focus areas, expanding the idea of research in the arts, are also welcome.

Who can apply?

Scholars, practitioner researchers, artist-activists, curators, translators, artist educators, authors, philosophers, gamers, or anyone interested in situating themselves at the interface of research-practice.

You are eligible to apply if you are an Indian national. Your collaborators need to be Indian nationals, too. (For more on the eligibility criteria, please click here)

Duration of the Project:
A minimum duration of one year and a maximum of 18 months.

Budget: 

You can budget up to Rs 5,00,000/-. You can request an honorarium, not exceeding 35% of the proposed budget. (Please do not budget for institutional overheads, building costs, or infrastructural development. The budget does not allow for equipment purchase either, but if you must buy equipment for the project, it has to be returned to IFA after the project is completed.)

Submission Guidelines:

  • We encourage you to discuss any queries regarding the Request for Proposals and develop project ideas before sending your final proposal by writing to Harshita Bathwal, Programme Officer, Arts Research, at harshita@indiaifa.org before Monday, August 11, 2025, with the Subject Line: Project Proposal for Arts Research. 
  • You can write your proposal in any Indian language, including English.
  • The proposed project should have clarity in terms of the research questions, proposed objectives, personal motivation, and the stakeholders involved.
  • We encourage applicants to develop project ideas with outcomes or processes that could be shared in the public domain. These could be textual, visual, performative, curatorial, pedagogical, spatial, material, documentary, sonic, digital, or any other form of cultural intervention. Projects should aim to be accessible and meaningful to a broad and diverse audience, engaging more than one kind of public.
  • Your final proposal, along with your curriculum vitae, and a detailed budget breakdown that explains how funds will be utilised, should be submitted online in a single email not exceeding 25 MB to harshita@indiaifa.org on or before September 10, 2025, 11:59 PM (IST). 

Selection Process:

An external panel will evaluate the shortlisted proposals, and applicants may be required to present their project ideas to the panel. The decision by IFA on project selections will be final.

Please note that incomplete proposals and those where applicants do not fall within the eligibility criteria will be disregarded.

All selected projects will be implemented by IFA.

Key Dates:

  • Deadline for Discussion of Project Ideas/Queries: August 11, 2025
  • Deadline for Final Proposal: September 10, 2025
  • Announcement of Selected Projects: November - December 2025
  • Project Commencement: January 2026 (subject to change) 

IFA specifically encourages projects in Indian languages, including English, so as to contribute to the discourse in various language contexts.

Please note that IFA is committed to creating a safe environment that supports, respects, and protects everyone, including children. The applicant must be aligned with this and must uphold it at all times.

The Arts Research programme is made possible with support from BNP Paribas India Foundation.